‘Invaluable opportunity to gain admission as professional graduate chemists’

August 14, 2011, 10:04 pm

The College of Chemical Sciences, which is the educational arm of the Institute of Chemistry, Ceylon, commences on January 7th next year, a revised Graduateship Programme that will lead, after four years, to the award of the Graduateship of the Institute of Chemistry in 2015. Such Graduateship Programmes have been conducted for 33 years since 1979 and are equivalent to that of a Special Degree Programme in Chemistry conducted by a recognised University.

Advanced Registration is now in progress and students who possess three Advanced Level passes OR are hopeful of obtaining same at the examination that is now being held should contact the Institute Headquarters at Adamantane House, 341/22, Kotte Road, Welikada, Rajagiriya (phone 2861653/2861231) and obtain application forms free of charge as well as and other documents and information. They could also download same from the web site www.jchemc.com and attend an Orientation Session that is being held at 10 15 am on Saturday August 27tb at the said address.

Professor J N Oleap Fernando, the Honorary Rector of the College states in a News release that successful completion of the programme enables admission as professional Graduate Chemists, who are recognised both in Sri Lanka and abroad, for postgraduate studies leading to Doctoral Degrees, as well as for recruitment as Chemists and for numerous other positions that require Honours degrees in Chemistry. More that half of the 734 Graduate Chemists who have passed out over the past three decades have obtained post-graduate degrees from Universities throughout the world and this includes about 70 who have obtained their PhD degrees.

The news release also states that while scholarships, prizes and bursaries are continuously available during the programme for meritorious and needy students, the amount otherwise payable for the four year Programme amounts to only about Rs 250,000 which works out to about Rs 5,250 per month for those who register before the advanced registration deadline of 15th September. Many students spend much more in following tuition classes to supplement their Advanced Level studies. Prospective students are also assured that they would complete the entire programme with no delays whatsoever by October 2015. Prospective students and their parents are advised to use this wonderful and unique opportunity to become Graduate Chemists by following a time tested and very well recognised professional programme in Chemistry that is offered by the largest provider of such chemists in the shortest possible time and at the least possible cost in Sri Lanka.

(Press release)

Science and research

August 14, 2011, 8:26 pm

by Carlo Fonseka

When I was a member of the University Grants Commission, (UGC) the Center for Advanced Studies (a creation of the educational visionary Prof. Senake Bandaranayake) conducted a workshop on ‘Research Methodology and Thesis Writing’. I was required to make a 20 – minute presentation on the subject of ‘Science and Research’. In the context of the on-going dialogue on that subject in the columns of The Island, I thought the Editor might be interested in the presentation I made. What follows is the text of my presentation.

Text

To talk meaningfully on the subject of Science and Research in 20 minutes is a tall order but it must be attempted. Let me begin with a banality. Like all living things, human beings seek to avoid suffering and pursue happiness, as best as they can. We try to do that on the basis of judgments we make about the nature of the world we live in. We make judgments about our physical environment, our fellow beings and our own selves. These judgments are computations of our brains based on information about different aspects of the world obtained through sense organs such as our eyes and ears.

Appearance and Reality

Our attempt to avoid suffering and to pursue happiness will be successful only to the extent that our judgments about the world correspond to the real nature of the world. These judgments are not always reliable because, apart from being prone to corrigible error, our brains are also susceptible to delusions, illusions and hallucinations. A delusion is a demonstrably false belief which is persisted in despite verifiable evidence to the contrary. Delusions are a well known symptom of insanity. Illusions are false interpretations of some real objects or phenomena. A classic example is a mirage. Hallucinations are objectless sensations i.e. perceptions of non-existing things. e. g. hearing voices when nobody is speaking and seeing visions that others cannot see. Hallucinations are usually evidence of mental disorder. Because humans have an insight into how their brains work, they have collectively discovered a method for minimizing error and thereby making their judgments about the world more reliable. That method is the method of science as a technique. As Karl Marx famously said, "all science would be superfluous if the outward appearance and the essence of things directly coincided." Judgments we make by scientific method constitute what we truly know about the world i.e. knowledge. In this view, knowledge consists of judgments based on perceptions and verified by critically evaluated experience i.e. empirically verified.

Necessary and Sufficient

In such a context, a question immediately poses itself: What are the conditions that must be satisfied before one can validly claim to know something truly? For example, that you know that somebody else’s cigarette can kill you or that there will be an insurrection in this country this year. To answer these questions, we have to discuss however briefly the theory of knowledge, that is the branch of philosophy called epistemology. The question we have to discuss is this: What are the conditions that are necessary and sufficient for you to claim validly that you really know something? As philosopher A. J. Ayer has lucidly expounded in his book called The Problem of Knowledge (1956) three conditions have to be satisfied.

First: what you claim to know must be true.

Second: you must be sure it is true.

Third: you must have the right to be sure that it is true.

Research

Let it be said at once that research – more accurately research using scientific methodology – is essentially concerned with establishing your right to be sure that your claim to knowledge is a valid one. Let me illustrate the matter by taking a simple example. Suppose you say that you know that there is a mango tree in a certain garden in Mihintale. For you to claim that you really know that there is such a mango tree, first of all, there really must be a mango tree in the garden in question. Though necessary, the fact that there is indeed a mango tree in that garden is not sufficient to validate your claim to knowledge of it. If you had just guessed that there is a mango tree in that garden and your guess had turned out to be true, you cannot claim to have really known it. It was just an instance of a guess which happen to be true. Such an instance does not constitute true knowledge. Therefore in addition to the fact that there is a mango tree in that garden, another condition must be fulfilled to validate your claim to a definite piece of knowledge. That second condition is that you must be sure on the basis of some evidence that there is such a tree. For example, you should have seen it one or more times or seen a photograph of it. But even such subjective certainty on your part that there is such a tree is not sufficient to validate your claim to true knowledge. Why not? Because like everybody else’s brain, your brain too is subject to delusions, illusions and hallucinations. Therefore, a third condition must be satisfied before you can claim true knowledge that there is such a tree. That third condition is that you must have the right to be sure. As has been emphasized already, it is research using a particular methodology that will give you the right to be sure. The essence of the matter is that your claim must be based on evidence and your evidence must be verifiable by other competent observers. Why must this be so? Because what is not publicly checkable may become a matter of disagreement and whenever there is an irresolvable disagreement, we reach a dead end.

Conclusion

So it comes about that the research (methodology and data) on which you base your claim to a particular piece of knowledge e.g. that Rajarata Chronic Kidney Disease is caused by arsenic, must be made available to others for their critical scrutiny and evaluation. There is a standard way in which claims to knowledge are made public. It takes the format of a scientific paper. A scientific paper consists of five parts.

1 Introduction – which serves to define the problem being researched in the form of an empirically testable hypothesis.

2 Methodology – which describes the precise methods that were used to conduct the research.

3 Results – which represent the observations (findings) of the research.

4 Analysis of results – by logical reasoning and if appropriate by the use of statistical techniques.

5 Discussion – to establish your claim to knowledge.

Native speakers

August 13, 2011, 4:28 pm

By Charles Sarvan

Questions about expressions such as "native speaker" and "mother tongue" were raised by Christopher Rezel, Sri Lankan author and journalist now settled in Australia. Though not a language-specialist, I share a few thoughts and perplexities, not necessarily to provide answers but to contribute to on-going discussion.

To begin with "mother tongue", let us say a Swedish family adopts a Vietnamese child of about five or six. Soon, the child will function fluently and naturally in Swedish and yet, in a literal sense, it won’t be her mother tongue, the language of her biological mother. To be precise, Swedish will be her "foster-mother tongue". The phrase "mother tongue" now tends to appear in casual conversation, rather than in writing of a formal or academic nature.

With the other phrase ("native speaker"), the preferred practice when in doubt is to consult, where possible, someone considered to be a "native speaker" rather than checking with a dictionary or book of grammar. If that person finds it "acceptable", then one uses it: "acceptable" usage, rather than "correct", partly because there has been a move away from linguistic dogmatism and authoritarianism towards greater flexibility and variety. Secondly, because language use and the meaning of words change (semantic shift) with time, and the edition of the book consulted may not record the latest. First comes usage, the use of a language by its speakers; grammarians and linguistics observe and describe this linguistic "behaviour" and, finally, teachers and parents attempt to inculcate, turning what was originally "description" into "prescription" and rules. A native-speaker initially "acquires", unconsciously, her language (and may then go on to "learn", consciously, another). But those with limited schooling or those who did not study English as a subject beyond secondary school, while having the confidence to say that a certain usage is "okay", won’t be able to explain the grammatical rules involved.

"Native speakers" are considered to be the "owners" of a language and can take liberties with it; bend, even break, the rules; be idiosyncratic and creative. In ‘A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man’ by (Irish) James Joyce – one of the greatest of 20th century English-language writers - Stephen Dedalus feels uneasy when talking with the Dean, an Englishman:

"The language in which we are speaking is his before it is mine [...] His language, so familiar and so foreign, will always be for me an acquired speech [...] My soul frets in the shadow of his language."

But Joyce’s autobiographical novel was published in 1916, and over the intervening near-century, the role of, and attitude to, English has changed significantly. The language has become the medium of international communication; is recognised as one of India’s languages, and several African countries after independence (Ghana, 1957) retained English as the official language and the medium of instruction in schools. It is now accepted that there is not one but several Englishes. (My computer stubbornly insists on underlining "Englishes" as a mistake.) The International Association for World Englishes publishes a journal with that title: ‘World Englishes’ (Oxford). As I have written elsewhere, during the long years of British imperialism, the term "native" was used condescendingly, if not derogatorily. Meanwhile, "native" has become (sometimes) a matter of fierce contestation. Who is autochthonous? Claims to be the "native", to have arrived at an earlier date in a certain region or country, are really claims to rights and privileges. Similarly, to be recognised as a "native speaker" is to be accorded rights when it comes to language-use

But if English is now native (natural) to different people – Australians, Canadians, New Zealanders, and to some Africans and Asians – then there are native speakers using different forms of English. I have heard some Americans say they speak American, rather than English. (My impression is that young Europeans tend to prefer American-English to the British variety.) It is unfortunate that the same word, "English", applies both to a people and to a language: there are several Indian languages, but no one language known as "Indian". (I recall once being asked at a social gathering whether I "speak Indian"!)

Moving from James Joyce to Chinua Achebe, the latter writes that, talking at a literary conference about non-English writers using English as their medium of creative expression, he was made to feel uncomfortable by the attitude of the Australian poet, A. D. Hope: "I felt somewhat like an illegitimate child face to face with the true son of the house lamenting the excesses of an adventurous and profligate father who had kept a mistress in every port" (‘Morning Yet on Creation Day’). But, Achebe asserts, the "price a world language must be prepared to pay is submission to many different kinds of use". If English has become the world’s language, then no one group can claim ownership, privilege and status. Universality implies equality.

Can we, therefore, say there are Sri Lankan native-speakers of English? What is the difference between someone who is a "native speaker" of English and another to whom it is her "first language"? The latter phrase does not mean the language first learnt – see the Vietnamese child adopted by Swedes – but the language in which a person is now best, and most fully, able to express herself. It seems to me that while a language can become a speaker’s "first language" (in the sense in which I use it) gradually, over time and later in life, "native speaker" implies a very early immersion in that language (and in the culture of which that language is part and expression). The characters in Carl Muller’s Burgher novels pride themselves on having English as their language, the one spoken at home.

While one’s "native language" may also be the "first", the converse does not necessarily apply: someone can be a native-speaker of a language, and have another as her first. In Zambia (unless things have changed in the intervening years), the medium of instruction from Grade 1 to university is English. It is the (only) medium of government and administration. So a Zambian could be a native speaker of, say, Bemba or Nyanja (the latter in the capital, Lusaka), and have English as her first language, the language in which she was best able to express her thoughts and enter into discussion. Zambian languages do not have the vocabulary to cope with science, medicine, engineering, philosophy and other such subjects. It is a cycle: the language is not used in certain fields and, therefore, does not have the vocabulary; it doesn’t have the vocabulary, and cannot be used. So it was, I believe, with Sinhala and Tamil until the end of the 1950s.

Bilinguals are native speakers, and feel at home in two languages. One test of the role language plays in the life of an individual is said to be the answer to the question, "In what language do you dream?" My sons tell me they dream either in German or in English, depending on where the dream is located – in Germany or in some English-speaking country (including London) where they lived - and the individuals who figure in the dream. I would think there are Sri Lankans who are bilingual native-speakers: English and Sinhala or Tamil.

It is not unusual for English-language schools to insist on employing only native-speaker teachers, and to draw the attention of potential students to this fact: it is very good for business. (In the past, "native-speakers only" translated into "whites only".) Of course, not all native speakers of a language have a perfect "control" of their language, and by "native speaker" is meant someone who has, what is now termed, "native-speaker competence".

To express it differently, not all native-speakers have what is meant by "native-speaker competence" - while some who are not may.

External, non-linguistic, factors play a very important (if not decisive) role. Originally, "barbarian" meant one who did not speak Greek and, therefore, was thought to be uncivilized. The Romans came along, included themselves, and by extension, barbarians came to denote those who spoke neither Greek nor Latin. And so it was with English within the British Empire – in geographical extent, the greatest empire the world has ever seen. "Natives" (in the pejorative meaning) either didn’t speak English or did so in a manner that served to amuse, and to confirm British superiority: see, for example, the imitation in popular comedy (among others by Peter Sellers) of the so-called Indian or Oriental accent. Non-Westerners joined in the laughter directed at them, some innocently; some, particularly of the middle and upper class, desperately trying to distance themselves from the caricature. Irrespective of time and place, irrespective of which empire, it was the social elite of the defeated who tended to imitate and assimilate elements of the conqueror’s culture, including the language. To speak English signalled education and social status. It also provided employment opportunity which, in turn, further enhanced social standing.

Going a step further, if to speak English bestowed social recognition, then to speak it like an Englishman brought a still greater measure of regard and admiration, that is, from those who did not accept that English was one of Sri Lanka’s languages; that Sri Lankan English was a legitimate variety, different but fully equal. (Of course, there is no one "English accent" but regional – even area – and class accents.)

As Achebe writes (op. cit.), one of the greatest of faults of non-Western people is their lack of self-confidence (despite protest and bluster to the contrary) vis-a-vis the Western world which, in turn, indicates a deep down acceptance of inferiority.

The fault is not in our stars [fate] But in ourselves

(Julius Caesar, Act 1, Scene 2)

A new door to English

August 13, 2011, 4:19 pm


by Capt Elmo Jayawardena

The non-English speaking young do face a serious problem. They are bright and they are willing and they need jobs but fail to get employed. This applies a lot to those who have completed their tertiary education and walked out of universities having suffered the multiple burdens of poverty to read for their degrees. If they did engineering or medicine, the chances are very good to find work. Architects, lawyers and those who pull teeth or those who learn to teach too are in the ‘OK’ list. But there is a whole lot more of rural students who have completed their management degrees and those who have enrolled in Bachelor of Arts stream specialising in important subjects who are denied a place to work.

English is their problem. Mind you, I am talking of graduates. There is another army of ‘A’ level qualified too who add thousands to this brigade of ‘no English- difficult to get a job’ group who march out to the world looking for work as ‘English Patients.’

It is not intelligence they lack, but confidence to converse in English. One ‘fol toppee and fan cake’ from them and John Keels HR or Digital personnel would cross them off from the interview and so would most of the big guns that call the tune in the employment business in Colombo. Don’t blame the prospective employer; they are not running charities but corporate conglomerates that need the kind of young they could tinker and shape the way they want to represent them in the ever-increasing competitive world they face each day.

The need is English. The Government has recognised this monstrous inadequacy and is addressing it. Why can’t the young speak English? There may be many reasons, but the prime ‘numero uno’ is the ‘FEAR.’ Go to the beach in Unawatuna and you see the bead necklace seller with a smattering of German. He is even capable of giving choices to ‘Von Richthofen,’ or someone who wears beads, all in the language of the Fatherland. The maids who cross oceans to fend for the family learn Arabic, Italian, English or whatever the host family speaks at home. Send a student to Patrice Lumumba University in Moscow and he will study in Russian. China, our new God Father and God Mother rolled into one gives scholarships and young Sri Lankans read their degrees in Beijing and Shanghai in Mandarin. In Castro land they become scholarship doctors in Spanish. Then how come the under-graduate in a local university who is bright and knows the score still ends up being in no position to converse in English?

They understand almost every word; they would speak too, if only they could get over the trauma that somebody will laugh at them. And I do not think anybody is laughing; it is just an imaginary deterrent that needs to be eradicated.

On July 24, Mr Bradman Weerakoon drove to Matugama. He was invited to open a library, a different kind of a library in the Madawala Pirivena located in Welipanne, Matugama. It was an ENGLISH BOOKS ONLY library. This is a new approach of CandleAid Lanka where we already have 110 libraries in Sinhala and Tamil, spread all over the island. The coordinator for the Welipanne Library is Batuwangala Rahula Thera, a State Literary Award winner who received the prestigious honour for his book ‘Bora Thel’.

The erudite priest identified the importance of teaching English to his students and joined with CandleAid for this first step in a long journey to teach the Queen’s language to rural children.

This is a beginning, a fight to shed the ‘shame’ of wrong English. The ENGLISH BOOKS ONLY library is open to anyone as it is a change of attitude we seek. Students, school leavers, parents, grandfathers and grandmothers, anyone is welcome in Rahula Thera’s CandleAid English Library. The vision is to make a mass exodus from ‘cuff of tea’ and ‘fineapple’ level to reading Enid Blyton and Harry Potter. Get the fear out and make all the mistakes, but speak English mixing the ‘f’s and the ‘p’s to your heart’s content. Give a ‘pight’ to learn English, nobody should laugh. The need is to improve from murdering the Queen to a lesser evil of pinching the Royal backside.

Don’t tell me I am ridiculing anyone by this ‘fineapple and fan cake’ talk. I certainly am not. I am only facing the truth and measuring the need and doing something about it. I myself never spoke a single word in English till I was eighteen, but I read and I know the path. It can be done and it will be done and it needs to be done, to teach the Sri Lankan young to speak English. They should stand equal to their counterparts from more affluent schools who are better exposed to the English language. These local ‘Village-Hampdens’ do have the capabilities, all they need is a level platform to perform, which will only be a reality the day they achieve some fluency in English.

First we have to admit there is an inadequacy, and then only we can find the medicine and look for a cure

CandleAid has set up a separate section to open ENGLISH BOOKS ONLY libraries. The second will be in the North, in Point Pedro, a hamlet called Allaiyanpathy. Then we will go to other places, find the money, look for corporate sponsorships and open as many English Books Only libraries as we can.

If anyone is interested in helping please contact Mrs Shanika Moraes, Chief Coordinator for CandleAid English Libraries.

Shanika@moraes.co.uk

Maybe you too can be part of this ever-important venture. Maybe you can team up with friends and collect fifty used books (suitable please) and donate to one of our English Libraries. Maybe you are a corporate giant who insists on English when hiring. Then let’s not say the streams are bitter, and write off some rural kid desperate for a job. Let’s find out when and why the fountain got poisoned and try and cleanse it with participation.

There is a whole generation of ‘kadu motta’ young who need to sharpen their language. It’s time we did something.

I became a ‘filot’ and a ‘cafton’ starting very close to where the ‘non English speaking’ young are today. I have no qualms about admitting that. All I say is it can be done. Let’s not make a big deal of wrong pronunciation, after all language is a means to communicate. Let not a ‘frawn’ curry or a ‘pruit’ salad delay the much needed buffet and deter the young from fearlessly speaking English.

What CandleAid started in Matugama is a step in the right direction. It is the way to go to secure a future for the rural young. Give them a chance to read. Come walk with us. Each step counts; then there is no place called far away.

 

IT and English courses for Uni entrants continuing- ministry says

Dailymirror
Saturday, 13 August 2011 01:55 By Lakna Paranamanna The Higher Education Ministry, while dismissing speculation concerning the English and Information Technology (IT) study programmes for the new university entrants, gave an assurance that the course was being successfully carried out at all 250 centres established countrywide.   Higher Education Ministry Additional Secretary P.G. Jayasinghe said that the course was being run successfully and added they have received positive feedback from its participants. “We have taken measures to distribute the handbook to all the study centres. Some students might have not collected the handbook, but we can certainly say that all the centres have received the handbooks by now,” he added. However, the Inter University Students Federation (IUSF) on Wednesday claimed that the study programme had come to a standstill in some of the study centres. They alleged that the lack of handbooks and programme coordinators was the reason for the dysfunctional state of the study centres.  Mr. Jayasinghe commenting on the payment of salaries to programme coordinators, which the IUSF claimed was the reason behind their absence from the centres, said that the salary promised to them, which was  Rs. 40,000, was being paid to coordinators who are engaged in the programme full time.

AGM of Colombo University Alumni

August 12, 2011, 10:15 pm
Island


The 15th anniversary and get-together of the Colombo University Alumni Association will be held on Sunday August 28 at the Sri Lanka Foundation Institute commencing at 8.00 a.m.

At the end of the first session some of the alumni who have excelled themselves in the State Service would be felicitated under the patronage of the Vice Chancellor of the University Prof Shanika Hirimburegama.

Among those who will be felicitated are Supreme Court Judge Priyasad Dep, Sceretary, Minister of Finance and Economic Development Dr. P. B. Jayasundara, Vice President of the Asian Olympic Committee and Secretary, Posts and Telecommunications Ministry Hemasiri Fernando, General Manager of the Bank of Ceylon, W. A. Nalani. Chief Government Valuer P. W. Senaratne.

This felicitation ceremony which will include a special lecture by Dr. Jayasundera and a cultural extravaganza, will conclude with sports activities for member families followed by lunch.

The members of the Alumni as well as those who studied at the University are invited.

I was forced to leave: Hoole

Friday, 12 August 2011 10:36 Professor Ratnajeevan Hoole, a respected Sri Lankan Tamil academician and a prominent returnee after the military defeat of the Tamil Tigers, said on Thursday that he was forced to leave the country. “Yes, I left through Colombo airport for London before [sic] I am arrested . I will work in the U.S. till lawyers can sort this out for me,” he told The Hindu via e-mail, when asked if he had fled Sri Lanka. “I will return because Sri Lanka (Jaffna in particular) is my home,” he asserted. Prof. Hoole, one of the few Tamils who was vocal in his criticism of the Tamil Tigers when the outfit ruled the Northern Province had had to flee Sri Lanka then. This time he had to leave because of his differences with the lone Tamil Minister in the Sri Lankan Cabinet, Douglas Devananda. Mr. Devananda had filed a defamation case against Prof. Hoole in the Kayts court over articles that the academician had written in the media.

Prof. Hoole leaves Sri Lanka Friday, 12 August 2011 07:05 Professor Ratnajeevan Hoole, a respected Sri Lankan Tamil academician and a prominent returnee after the military defeat of the Tamil Tigers, said on Thursday that he was forced to leave the country. “Yes, I left through Colombo airport for London before [sic] I am arrested. I will work in the U.S. till lawyers can sort this out for me,” he told The Hindu via e-mail, when asked if he had fled Sri Lanka. “I will return because Sri Lanka [Jaffna in particular] is my home,” he asserted. Prof. Hoole, one of the few Tamils who was vocal in his criticism of the Tamil Tigers when the outfit ruled the Northern Province had had to flee Sri Lanka then. This time he had to leave because of his differences with the lone Tamil Minister in Sri Lankan Cabinet, Douglas Devananda. Mr. Devananda had filed a defamation case against Prof. Hoole in the Kayts court over articles that the academician had written in the media, which were highly critical of Mr. Devananda's role in the North, and the ruling UPFA in general. “My story is in the last three [editions of] the Sunday Leader. In the first of three articles, I saw what was going on during the Local Government elections [July 23] and reported it. That has upset Douglas [Devananda] in whose hands the government has… placed the full goverment apparatus, especially in Kayts [island],” he said in an e-mail communication. “The next Court date is the [August] 15th [fortunately for me, because this week is court vacation]. I was advised to be out of the island by then — not only by my lawyers but by all my friends in Jaffna,” he added. Prof. Hoole had come back to Sri Lanka to help rebuild systems in the island after the conclusion of the war. “When he [The President] invited displaced expatriates to return, Prof. Carlo Fonseka approached him and he promised to have me and my wife reinstated as a professor if I was here. Although he issued the order when I came, it has not been implemented. My wife has been unemployed for a year. I was on an appointment until further notice,” he said when asked to clarify on him coming back to Sri Lanka. Earlier, in 2006, Prof. Hoole, an engineering professor, was the Jaffna University Vice Chancellor. Because of his outspoken ways, the LTTE did not allow him to function and he went back to the United States. VC panel After he came back following the defeat of the LTTE, he was in the panel of three candidates for the Vice Chancellor post, but medical faculty Professor Vasanthi Arasaratnam, was appointed to the post . “I applied for VC [post] by the appointed process. At that time when I was elected by the Council to the list of three from which the President selects one, various people have recommended me for appointment. That is the only time I have had to deal with him or communicate with him. In December at the only one-to-one meeting during the VC appointment process, he promised to appoint me at a personal meeting,” Prof. Hoole said. Ever since he returned, Prof. Hoole has also been critical of the government's approach to the ethnic issue and has spoken in many fora. “True nation building is about celebrating our differences without suppressing them and addressing grievances. I am afraid that the government is missing the point in its ever effervescent and exuberant pronouncements about unity,” he told an audience at the Naro Udeshi Lecture at the Mahatma Gandhi Centre recently, his last lecture in Colombo. (Source: thehindu)

Tension at Sri J’pura University over Mahapola payments

Island

August 10, 2011, 9:47 pm

by Dasun Edirisinghe

A tense situation prevailed at the Sri Jayewardenepura University yesterday morning as students surrounded the administration building demanding a discussion with the Vice Chancellor.

They surrounded the Vice Chancellors office for five hours, but later dispersed as VC Dr. N. L. A. Karunaratne was not in his office.

Undergraduates were protesting against the delay of the Mahapola payments for first year students. The VC had cancelled the scheduled event to grant the payments yesterday too, according to the Students’ Council.

"We are demanding the Mahapola payments for eight months," President of the Students Council Kamburupitiye Knanissara thera told The Island.

He said that Vice Chancellor suppressed the students for years and they wanted him to resign.

"There is lack of welfare facilities too in the university and the university administration always refuses to discuss the problems with us," Knanissara thera said.

He said that they will decide on whether to go for a massive protest over the Vice Chancellor refusing to meet them yesterday.

VC Dr. N. L. A. Karunaratne was not available for immediate comment.

English and IT study programmes at a standstill: IUSF 

Dailymirror 

Thursday, 11 August 2011 02:12

By Lakna Paranamanna
The Inter University Students Federation (IUSF) said yesterday the three-month English and Information Technology study programme for new university entrants was not functioning in certain districts as a result of flaws in planning.
IUSF Convener Sanjeewa Bandara told a media briefing that though the programme was to be worked out at 250 centres countrywide, the work has come to a standstill at several centres due to the lack of proper facilities and coordinators.
“A group of coordinators trained at the British Council were to be appointed to each study centre. But, they are not carrying out their allotted work because Higher Education Ministry has reduced the promised salary of Rs.40,000 to a mere Rs.18,000,” he added.
Mr. Bandara said inefficient teaching methods have made it difficult for participants to keep up with the course contents. “It is common knowledge that a majority of students who enter university are not fluent in the English language or in IT skills. Therefore it is essential for these students to be taught the basics before moving into advanced topics. The study-programme handbook has still not been distributed at most centres including Gampaha, Polonnaruwa and Meepe,” he said.

Undergrads surround VC’s office 

Dailymirror 

Thursday, 11 August 2011 02:08

By Lakna Paranamanna
Sri Jayawardenapura University first year students yesterday surrounded Vice Chancellor N.L.A. Karunaratne’s office building and attempted to prevent him from leaving the premises following his decision to hold back the Mahapola scholarships that was to be awarded to the students.However, some two hours later the protesting students found that by then the VC had left his office.
Jayawardenapura University Students’ Union Convener the Venerable Kamburugamuwe Gnanessara Thera said the crisis had arisen because of a statement made by Dr. Karunaratne during an event at the university premises.
“During an event to award Mahapola scholarships to first year students yesterday, the VC unexpectedly announced that none of the students will be awarded the scholarships and stormed out of the auditorium,” he said.
As a result the disappointed students had surrounded the administration building, in an attempt to prevent the VC from leaving his office.
“The students are determined to continue their struggle until the VC withdraws his statement and takes measures to award the scholarships they are entitled to receive,” Rev. Gnanessara Thera said. Meanwhile, he said the Mahapola scholarships which had been held back by the VC, was to have been been awarded more than a year ago. 

Foreign University Bill in House soon

Foreign University Bill in House soon

Daily News 10/08/2011

Dinesh DE ALWIS

The much anticipated, Foreign University Bill would be presented to Parliament within the next two months after going through the Legal Draftsman.

Cabinet has sanctioned the Bill and it has been sent to the Legal Draftsman, Higher Education Ministry Secretary Dr. Sunil Jayantha Navaratne told the Daily News. "Legal drafts and translation of the Bill are currently under preparation and would be shortly presented to Parliament", he said.

The new Bill which regulates and monitors foreign universities has been titled "Quality Assurance, Accreditation and Qualification Framework Bill".

He further said that up to now the ministry has received applications from 10 universities expressing their interest to set up foreign universities in Sri Lanka.

Universities from USA, Japan, UK, Russia, China, India and Australia have shown a keen interest in setting up Medical, IT, Engineering and Management Universities in Sri Lanka.

Several institutions are already under construction and these universities will launch their academic activities once the Bill is passed.

Those universities are planning to set up universities in areas such as Colombo, Kandy, Jaffna and Puttalam he said.

Every year, around 10,000 students from Sri Lanka migrate to foreign countries spending over 12 billion.

The ministry has taken measures to offer local students 20 percent of the slots in those foreign universities.

J’pura VC under house arrest

Wednesday, 10 August 2011 14:30

By Lakna Paranamanna

The students of the Jayawardenapura University have taken the Vice Chancellor Dr. N. L. A. Karunaratne under house arrest a short while ago following a protest held at the university premises.

The students had been protesting against the VC’s decision on rejecting Mahapola scholarships and they are claiming they plan to hold the VC under house arrest until he decides to approve the scholarships.

The Mirihana police stated that several teams have been dispatched to the location after they were informed by the university about the situation. (Daily Mirror Online)

University teachers salary issue - FUTA demands appointment of salary rectification committee this week

August 9, 2011, 9:15 pm
Island


by Dasun Edirisinghe

University teachers, who suspended their trade union action demanding a salary hike, urged the Higher Education Ministry yesterday to appoint a committee to look into the matter, as promised, without further delay.

University teachers withdrew from the voluntary posts they held as a protest against the government’s delay in increasing their salaries and they suspended the trade union action on three promises being made by the authorities, out of which one has still not been honoured.

"Appointing a committee to find a long term solution to university teachers salaries is one of the promises given by the ministry and treasury officials, but it has yet to be appointed," President of the Federation of University Teachers Associations (FUTA) Dr. Nirmal Ranjith Devasiri told The Island.

He said that the salary hike would have to be decided before the budget and therefore the committee had to be appointed immediately.

The committee would include representatives from the Higher Education Ministry, University Grants Commission (UGC), Treasury, National Salaries and Cadre Commission and four members from the FUTA, according to the agreement.

"It must be appointed within this week," Dr. Devasiri said adding they have already reminded the ministry to do so.

According to him, the ministry has promised to rectify the anomalies in the academic allowance and the UGC has already issued a circular to pay it with effect from July 01.

He said the third promise was to cancel a circular issued by the UGC preventing university dons from resigning from the voluntary posts held by them without giving three-months notice.

"The UGC Vice Chairman issued a circular cancelling the previous one, but we are still in doubt about its validity as the UGC Chairman had issued the previous circular," Dr. Devasiri said.

Secretary to the Higher Education Ministry Dr. Sunil Jayantha Navaratne, when contacted for comment, said that they are in the process of appointing the committee.

"We will appoint it within this week," he said.

Medical students accused of murder to go for mediation

Dailymirror

Tuesday, 09 August 2011 01:42

By L.B. Senaratne
Kandy Chief Magistrate Udaya Karalliyadde ordered that the charges against two medical students of attempting to murder a fellow student of the Faculty of Medicine at the University of Peradeniya be sent to the Mediation Board for determination, This order was made after the conclusion of non-summary proceedings.
Upon being asked by the Chief Magistrate whether he had anything to submit to court after non-summary proceedings concluded, counsel for the accused Attorney- at- Law Nanda Senanayake said that there was no evidence of a murder being committed and therefore requested that his clients be set free.
The Magistrate said that he would call for a written report from the Medical Officer on the matter and court was adjourned for the day. When the case was taken up on Friday (6) after perusing the report of the Medial Officer the Chief Magistrate ordered that since the charges now came under section 316 of the Penal Code, the Plaint would be sent to the Mediation Board for determination.
The Peradeniya Police prosecuted while Attorney-at-Law Nanda Senanayake appeared for the Defence.

Universities return to normal

Dailymirror

Tuesday, 09 August 2011 01:42

 By Lakna Paranamanna    
With academics resuming duties at their voluntary administrative posts from Monday, normalcy has now returned to universities after the two-month long protest and the tug-o-war between academics and Vice Chancellors.  Federation of University Teachers Association (FUTA) President Nirmal Dewasiri said they decided to resume duties following a request from the university administration.
“Some issues concerning the validity of the resignation letters we tendered are still to be clarified and solved. But, sswe decided that minor technicalities should not stand in the way of restoring normalcy in the country’s higher education system,” he added.
Dr. Dewasiri said they were awaiting the University Grants Commission (UGC) circular on the academics’ salary revision, which would be implemented from the August salary.

“We received information that the treasury and the Higher Education Ministry have sent the letters to the UGC regarding the salary revision,” he said.
Dr. Dewasiri said they were also expecting the appointment of the committee to look into the full resolution of the salary anomaly of the academics.
“We were informed that the committee will be appointed this week. We hope that the committee will be appointed soon,” he added.

 

Special degree programme in Chemistry

Island
August 8, 2011, 9:48 pm


The College of Chemical Sciences, which Is the educational arm of the Institute of Chemistry Ceylon, has called for applications for its very popular Graduateship Programme in Chemistry conducted by it since 1979. This programme at the Special degree Honours level of a recognized University will be inaugurated on 7th January 2012 at Adamantane House which is the headquarters of the Institute situated at 341/22, Kotte Road, Weilkada, Raiagiriya.

Professor J. N. Oleap Fernando, the Honorary Rector of the College, states in a news release that the programme now in its 34 th year has produced 734 Graduate Chemists so far from 28 batches and this will increase to well over 800 when the 29th batch passes out by the end of the year.

Many of the passed out Grduate Chemists have obtained or are reading for postgraduate degrees In Unversities throughout the world and are making a singular contribution to national development. Those who have at least three GCF(A/L) passes are able to apply for this programme which will be completed by 2015 without any delays whatsoever. A revised curriculum which will come into operation with the admission of the next batch will take cognisanze of modern developments In the discipline.

While Advanced registration will be available at the lowest possible cost until 15th September from qualified students, provisional applications are also welcome from those sitting the Advanced level examination this year. Further details are and application forms are available from the above address on any day including weekends while it can also be downloaded from the web site www.ichemc.com

University teachers’ exam. duty allowance up

Monday, 08 August 2011 00:00

By Ranjan Kasthuri
The examinations duty allowance of university teachers has been increased fivefold by the government, officials said yesterday. Treasury approval has already been obtained for the change.
This increase in the allowance has been granted following a demand made by the Federation of University Teachers Associations, said a senior Treasury official.
A university teacher is paid Rs 20 for each answer script marked and Rs.200 for a three hour supervision of any exam.  Besides these, a university teacher is paid Rs.500 for a visiting lecture and Rs 1000 for the evaluation of a post graduate thesis at present.

Leadership training expanded - All higher educational institutions to be covered

Leadership training expanded - All higher educational institutions to be covered

Daily News 06/08/2011

Ridma Dissanayake

*Number of requests from parents, students
*Sixteen higher educational institutions in country

The leadership training programme introduced to new university entrants would be extended to the students of the Sri Lanka Institute of Advanced Technology (SLIATE) and other higher educational institutions. The Higher Education Ministry has decided to extend this programme to higher educational institutions with the successful completion of leadership training programme for university entrants.

According to Higher Education Ministry Additional Secretary P.G. Jayasinghe, the ministry has received a number of requests from parents and students that this programme be introduced to other higher educational institutions.

The ministry will introduce this programme to students who would be recruited to higher educational institutions, including Technical Colleges under the purview of the Higher Education Ministry.

There are 16 higher educational institutes in the country and over 3,500 students are recruited to these institutes annually. From next year number of the students are to be increased to 4,500-5,000 and they are to follow the leadership training programme from next year.

The leadership training programme which is to be given to the students entering higher educational institutes would be similar to the programme followed by university entrants and the programme for them would also be carried out in military camps, he added.

Working Hard for a Pay Hike
The non academic staff of all universities in the country demonstrated opposite the University Grants Commission (UGC) yesterday demanding higher salaries.